


Reigning Power

by inuyashamunkey



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura needs to think about what shes done, BAMF Lance (Voltron), BFFs, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Betrayal, Blood, For lyfe, Hunk is scared, Kidnapping, Lance is pissed off, Lance punches Shiro, Muzzling, Panic Attack, Rescue Missions, Shiro needs to think about what hes done., Sort Of, Taken Prisoner, You gotta be to punch the Champion, platonic hance, prisoner exchange
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 02:58:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16547525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inuyashamunkey/pseuds/inuyashamunkey
Summary: A mission goes wrong when Hunk is captured by the enemy in exchange for another planet's princess.~Or, shit goes wrong when people don't listen to Lance about his best-fucking-friend and Shiro deserves to have his face beat.





	Reigning Power

**Author's Note:**

> My tablet of four years died today. RIP

Tension filled the air, static.

"No." Hunk looked at Lance in surprise. He didn't seem to be the only one shocked at his outburst. Lance had his fists clenched tightly, his knuckles white.

Allura frowned at him, "What do you mean no? Lance, we can't afford--"

"No," Lance interrupts harshly, his tone unusually belligerent, "what we can't afford, _princess_ , is to lose a paladin."

"Watch the way you're speaking to the princess, Lance, this isn't her fault," Shiro warned firmly, clearly unhappy. Lance turned his glare onto the two-toned man and Hunk looked around, seeing that Keith and Pidge were just as much of a loss.

"Lance, it really isn't that big of a deal," Hunk said gently, trying to calm his friend down.

Lance cut his glare to his friend and Hunk flinched, "It  _is_ a big deal," Lance hissed.

"You're being childish," Allura scolded, crossing her arms over her bosom. 

"You should think more highly of your fellow paladins, Lance, I'm disappointed that you have so little faith in Hunk's capabilities," Shiro said. Hunk thought that would be it, lance hated disappointing Shiro and that wasn't an  _unknown_  fact. To his ultimate surprise, it wasn't.

Lance's glare became stronger, heating up with his simmering anger, "You don't know Hunk like I do. He isn't going."

"You don't make the decisions around here, Lance," Shiro reminded.

"He's right," Allura replied, "it isn't your decision. It's ours and Hunks," she turned towards Hunk, "what do you want to do?"

Hunk scratched his cheek nervously, "Uh-"

"No!" Lance snapped, cutting in. He moved to the side, grabbing Hunk's wrist. "He. Isn't.  _Going."_

Allura looked fed up, "Maybe you shouldn't be here, Lance, you clearly aren't able to think about the good of the many." She moved to grab Hunk's other arm but Lance blocked her.

He bared his teeth, looming over the princess, "I said no."

Allura was clearly startled and let Shiro pull her back, a deep frown marring his face. Hunk put his hand on the hand Lance had clasped over his wrist. "Lance," he whispered, urging his friend to look at him.

Lance turned to look at him and his anger turned into a desperate, pleading look, "You can't do this."

Hunk gave him a smile he hoped came off as reassuring, "I'll be okay, this planet needs their princess."

Lance's look hardened again, "The  _universe_  needs the yellow lion more than  _one planet_  needs their princess."

"Lance," Shiro hissed, Hunk could hear the shock in his voice. He was surprised too, his friend never took lives so lightly, it was unlike him.

"Lance...maybe you should let him go." Lance whirled around, a betrayed expression on his face as Pidge looked to the side in guilt. "I mean, we'll all be there to make sure he's okay... we won't let anything happen to him. You won't let anyone happen to him."

Hunk was glad for Pidge's reassurance, "That's ri--"

"Actually, Lance, you won't be able to oversee the exchange," Allura cut in, a cold look in her eye.

Everyone but Shiro turned to look at her, shock plain on their faces. "What are you talking about? Shiro?" Keith prompted him with a confused look.

Shiro looked down at his feet, but Allura had no problem raising her chin and replying, "I've accepted an offer for the blue and red lions to participate in the evacuation of a failing planet."

"What?" Lance growled, taking a large step forward. Hunk was quick to hold his hand steady, preventing him from going further and making a mistake he wouldn't be able to take back.

"Allura, what do you mean?" Hunk asked, his voice not as steady.  Allura had the decency to look mildly ashamed.

She met his gaze strongly. "I'm sorry Hunk, but I can't spare the resources any further than I already have."

Pidge looked hopeless. Hopeless and disappointed. She looked at Shiro, "Shiro? You're...okay with this?"

Shiro met her gaze, then Keith's who was just as accusatory. Meekly, he nodded, "It's the best we can do, but you'll be okay Hunk. We won't let anything happen to you."

"This is bullshit," Lance hissed. Pidge cringed at the choice of language. "you of all people should know what'll happen if this goes wrong."

"Lance," Hunk whispered, thinking that he had definitely gone too far.

_But was he wrong?_

Shiro's lips pursed. "You're right. That's why I need you to trust me."

Lance's fists clenched tighter and when Lance moved forward, Hunk hesitantly let him go. Lance got right up in Shiro's face, grabbing his collar and pulling him down until they were nose-to-nose, Lance glaring directly into Shiro's eyes, "You'll pay if something happens to him," He pulled away, moving his glare to Allura, "both of you."

With that, Lance turned around and stomped off in a huff, leaving Hunk to stare after him with concern. Keith bumped his shoulder, "He'll get over it."

Hunk bit his lip. Would he?

~

Hunk felt his nerves building and now, more than ever, he really wished Lance was here. Pidge apologized softly as she tightened the cuffs around his wrists and he would tell her it was okay if there wasn't a gag being pulled into his mouth. "Is that too tight?" Shiro asked.

Hunk shook his head, taking deep breaths. His eyes weren't covered, but it was of little comfort when he knew he was about to be passed into enemy hands.

"All done," Shiro said after he had tied the gag snug around the back of Hunk's head. Pidge stood soon after, having finished her own task of tying his hands up.

A hand rested on his shoulder and Shiro knelt down to his level with a small smile, "Feeling alright?"

Hunk avoided his gaze. "I wish Lance was here," Hunk said honestly.

The look Shiro gave him was one part apologetic and two parts confident, "You'll see him right after he and Keith get back, don't worry. You won't even make it onto the enemy's ship."

Hunk nodded and repeated those words over and over in his head, trying to know them by rote, to believe them.

He would've believed them if Lance had said it, but Lance wasn't here and Lance thought this was a bad idea.

Hunk thought this was a bad idea.

He still said nothing.

"I believe I have them in sight," Allura alerted them. Shiro's face straightened a bit at the news, but he kept a light smile.

"Remember what we planned?" Shiro asked. Hunk nodded.

"Walk slowly and try to stall during the exchange, trust you guys to come and get me," Hunk said, wishing there was more he could do, but knowing there was nothing.

Shiro patted his shoulder, "RIght." Shiro stood and grabbed Hunk's cuffed hands, gently pulling him to his feet as the ship opened to a ramp that would lead him to his jailors.

Hunk gulped at the aliens came into view, the captive princess shivering in one of the bulkier alien's hold. "Stay calm," Shiro reminded him gently before straightening and pushing Hunk forward.

Shiro left around four yards between them and the aliens before releasing his hold on Hunk's hands. "At the same time!" He called over the distance. Hunk saw the aliens nod and the bulky one step back from the princess.

The second the princess was nudged to go forward, Hunk was pushed into motion. It was a slow, nerve-wracking walk, but he reminded himself that this was the hardest part; the rest would unfold perfectly, just the way it was supposed to, and he just had to trust his team.

He took steady steps, briefly making eye contact with the princess as they passed each other at a snail's pace. Her eyes were gleaming with tears, but she looked overwhelmingly grateful and Hunk gave her a slight nod before facing forward once more, getting closer and closer to the aliens.

Hunk made a conscious effort to steady his breathing as he got within grabbing reach of the aliens. The bulky one that had held the princess reach behind him and roughly spun him around. Hunk was able to see as Shiro received the princess with a smile and a gentle hand on her arm.

Hunk watched anxiously as Shiro walked backward with the princess in tow, his fingers tapping his side in a countdown Hunk couldn't wait to end. The aliens started to pull him away and towards the ramp of their ship and Hunk continued the countdown softly in his head.

_3..._

_2..._

_1..._

His heart rate sped up to a gut-wrenching pace as he was sure he'd gone the past the time of recovery and now they were walking him up the ramp and the inside of their ship looked so dark and Hunk told himself he wouldn't panic but he was starting to panic.

He heard a crash behind him before he was thrown into the ship, his shoulder smashing against the cold floor as his captors ran inside behind him, closing the open panel and yelling something at the pilot in a language Hunk couldn't understand.

His breathing started to pick up and his eyes were frozen on the still panel of the door.

_Please. Please don't leave me here._

~

Lance elbowed Keith playfully, getting up into his space as he jeered, "Aw come on, Keefy, don't be a sore loser."

Keith glared, jabbing him in the side twice as hard, "I didn't lose, idiot, you got in my way."

Lance sighed dramatically, "Just admit it, you lost. Everybody's gotta lose sometime, you know, there's no shame."

Keith roughly typed in the numbers on the panel that would unlock the door leading to the desk fo the castle, "If you hadn't-" Keith got quiet, his eyes locked on something inside of the room.

The first thing Lance noticed was the foreign princess looking at them worriedly, her green hand clenched in the skirt of her gown. Lance grinned charmingly, "Hello princess, I'm glad to see you had a safe journey."

It was then that lance let his eyes roam further.

Pidge's red eyes.

Shiro looking at him like he has something to apologize for.

Allura staring at her feet, ashamed.

_No Hunk._

Lance took a shaky breath. He saw Keith look at him with concern out of the corner of his eye. "The princess is here..." Lance said slowly, his voice controlled, "...where is Hunk?"

No one said anything for a second and the only sound was a stray sniffle from Pidge's direction. Lance's eyes became wide, locked in on Shiro. "Shiro...my man, tell me where Hunk is."

Shiro bit his lip, hanging his head, "Lance," he started, his voice low and guilty. "we...Hunk, he..."

Lance made quick strides to stand in front of Shiro, forcing him to look him in the eye. "Shiro.  _Where_  is my best friend?"

"Our plan...failed," Shiro looked at Lance earnestly, "I'm so sorry, Lance."

Shiro hit the floor a second later. Allura gasped out in shock, "Lance!"

Not even Keith moved to stop him as Lance clambered over Shiro whose nose had started to bleed and grabbed his collar, pain and rage meshing in his crystalline eyes, salty tears dripping onto Shiro's cheeks as he pulled him up by the shirt. "You promised," he hissed, betrayal lacing every word he uttered.

"I know," Shiro whispered, "And I'm sorry. I am so sorry, Lance, but I will do everything in my power to get him back."

"No," Lance whispered. His shoulders slumped and his chin met his chest as his rage tuckered out into sadness. The fight had left him as he said, "I don't trust you," Lance looked up at Allura, some of the heat coming back to his gaze, "either of you."

"Lance--" Shiro started to reach towards Lance but Lance stood abruptly, his head ducked. He moved to leave the room, grabbing Pidge's sleeve on his way out. Just before he, Pidge, and Keith left, he looked at Allura and Shiro, despairingly disappointed. "I trusted you."

The words echoed long after the doors had slid shut.

~

Hunk's arms were locked firmly behind his back, constricted by two solid metal bands and a stiff pair of handcuffs, he felt like his breathing was being constricted by how taut his muscles were. His legs were in a similar position, constricted by five thick metal bands.

His face was being sliced open by the sharp edges of the metal muzzle tightened around his mouth, flattened chains entangling with his hair to clip at the back of his head. The muzzle did little to muffle his whimpers, but it seemed to do enough because nobody had come to tell him to shut up.

Not since he'd been thrown into this room.

He wasn't sure if he was even on the ship anymore, to be honest. Everything had passed in such a blur he was having a hard time differentiating the time between the exchange and the ship taking off.

He tried his best not to panic too much, he really did. He tried to be strong like he knew the others would be, but he just  _wasn't_  the other paladins.

He didn't have Shiro's experience.

He didn't have Pidge's brains.

He didn't have Keith's guts.

He didn't have Lance's confidence.

He didn't have any of that he...he only had his nervousness and a promise unfulfilled.

_"We'll get you out, you just have to trust us."_

His whimpers turned into dry heaves, bringing with them hyperventilation and a plethora of tears that stung the fresh cuts on his cheeks.

He was curled up as tightly as he could, being bound the way he was, and tried to quiet his heavy, terrified sobs. He'd never been in this position before and he didn't know how the others had dealt with it.

He was scared and alone and he didn't know if anyone was coming for him. Another sob wrenched up his throat and he was unable to quiet it.

_No,_  he reminded himself,  _you need to trust your team._

But that team had already failed him, what was he to do?

_Trust Lance. Lance would go to the ends of the earth for you, you know that. You've been friends for as long as you could walk; have some faith in him._

Hunk was comforted, briefly, by the thought of his friend's confident smile. he just had to stick it out until Lance rescued him. He sniffed and winced as one of the cuts tore.

He hoped help would come soon.

~

Lance was seething. Anger and desperation leaked from his pores as he threw his helmet on, Keith and Pidge watching on in concern.

"Pidge, can you find out where they took him?" Lance asked briskly. Pudge's head shot up, surprised at being referred to. Slowly, she nodded her head before letting it drop down again.

"I should be able to if they kept Hunk's gear on board," she said quietly, clearly still feeling guilty.

Keith frowned at Pidge, wanting to help but unsure how to. Luckily, he didn't have to make  _that_  uncomfortable decision as Lance looked at Pidge and smiled. Lance put a hand on Pidge's shoulder, "It's not your fault."

"But-"

"No buts!" Lance cut in smoothly, plastering a grin onto his face, "You couldn't have done anything."

"I shouldn't have agreed to it," Pidge said, her eyes starting to get glassy again.

Lance's smile dropped and, for a second, he looked mournful. "It wasn't your decision to make, Pidge. It was Shiro, Allura, and Hunk's. Our opinions didn't matter."

"They were doing what they thought was best," Keith said, looking off to the side. He couldn't help the instinct to defend Shiro.

Lance frowned at him, "And they were wrong."

Keith stayed quiet from then on as Pidge set up her computer to track Hunk and Lance booted up a ship.

"I want to take the lions, but..." Lance sighed, his brow creasing.

"I would draw too much attention," Keith finished in agreement.

It was only a second later that Pidge stood with her laptop, "We're ready to go."

They all climbed into the ship only meant to carry two passengers, Pidge sitting on Keith's lap as she navigated. It was a tight fit, but no one was complaining.

They flew in silence, Pidge directing Lance through the stars. They had received three transmissions, two from the castle and one from Shiro's lion, but Lance resolutely ignored all of them, his stubborn silence daring anyone to challenge him on it.

Keith's legs had gone numb by the time they reached the solar system of the planet Pidge said Hunk was being kept on.

The planet was purple, leaking a bright violet gas that waded out and around the planet's atmosphere. "That doesn't look good," Lance said, "Pidge?"

Pidge was typing on her computer pensively, "We don't have a lot on this planet, but my best bet is that those gases are the planet's core toxins. It's a natural shield against enemies."

"How sick will we be if we fly through that?" Keith asked cautiously, eyeing the tendrils of gas that seemed to reach out for them, calling them in.

"Uh, not at all if you give me about an hour," Pidge said, clambering over Keith's headrest and using his shoulders as a stepping stool to climb into the narrow back. "I just need to close off our ventilation system, we'll have to switch to canisters of oxygen, but we'll make it onto the planet."

"And what do we do if the whole planet is flooded with this stuff? We don't have that much oxygen," Keith reminded her.

Pidge winced, "Let's just hope it isn't."

~

Hunk had started to hear clanging outside of the cell he was being kept in. They were loud, unpredictable crashes of metal against metal and they made him flinch every time.

He did his best not to scream when the door to his cell shredded against its frame, opening at the will of another alien. Hunk watched fearfully as the alien dragged a large, heavy chain into the tiny room and, without sparing a glance or a word, grabbed Hunk by one of the bands binding his ankles, clipping the chain to it.

Hunk was frozen, unable to speak as the alien did the same with the band entrapping his elbows. He was dragged roughly from his safe corner and into the middle of the room, his chained limbs being anchored to a metal hook in the ground.

He was stuck in a back-breaking position, his beefy shoulders forced into a position that put his wrists in between his ankles. His breathing was further hindered and lightheadedness started to make itself known.

~

The second the three of them were hooked up to air canisters, they flew into the dense violet fog of the planet's atmosphere, aiming directly towards the yellow blip on Pidge's monitor.

Lance landed the ship with a calm level of precision, determination gleaming in his eyes as he stared up at a large building that looked something akin to a prison on Earth, just with space lasers.

Lance let the ship's jets cool for a moment before unstrapping himself from the pilot seat, he moved to get out but was interrupted by another transmission from Shiro's lion.

Lance looked annoyed and moved to ignore it, but Keith caught his hand, "We should see what he wants."

Lance narrowed his eyes at Keith, huffing. He roughly pulled his arm from Keith's grasp and continued to get out, "Do what you want."

Pidge went with lance and Keith was left alone. He allowed the transmission to go through with little hesitation.

_"Lance?"_  Shiro's voice rang clearly through the small cockpit.

"No, Shiro, it's me," Keith replied, watching Lance and Pidge take seats on the hood of the ship, clearly waiting and talking.

There was a sigh on the other side,  _"Have you reached the planet?"_

"Yes," Keith said cautiously, unsure if Lance wanted him to know that. 

_"Listen. I know you aren't happy with me, and I get that. I betrayed Lance's trust, I betrayed Hunk's trust, I betrayed your trust, but I just want to do what I can to right my wrongs. I want to save you guys some time, so I found an old floorplan for the planet's foreign entity holding center and I'm sending you the coordinates for where the highest level of threatening prisoners are being held."_  Just as Shiro finished saying that, Keith saw a new blip appear on Pidge's screen through the ship's view.

"Thanks, Shiro," Keith said.

_"Yeah,"_  Shiro whispered,  _"be safe. Bring Hunk home."_

The transmission shut out and Keith stepped out of the ship, Pidge and Lance getting up at his arrival.

"I'm guessing this is Shiro's doing?" Pidge asked, showing Keith the new blip blinking up at him on the screen, mere meters away from where they stood.

Lance scrunched his nose unhappily, "At least we know we're in the right place."

"If what Shiro found is true, then Hunk is being held a couple floors down from where his gear is," Pidge said, her computer working on a 3-D rendering of the building. Once it was done, she showed Lance and Keith.

"I'll go get his gear," Keith volunteered immediately, "you guys get Hunk."

"I don't know if we should separate," Lance said, anxiousness flushing itself onto his face.

"We don't know what it's like in there, Lance, they could be alerted the second we step foot through that door. Splitting up will give us the highest chance of success," Keith said. He may or may not have been repeating something Kolivan said to him during his first year as a Blade, but who was paying attention? He wasn't.

"Okay," Lance said finally after thinking it over for a second, "We'll meet back here."

"Let's go get Hunk."

~

There was sweat dripping down his arms and tears drying on his neck. He felt like his muscles were going to tear themselves apart with how tight and painful they were, pain shooting up his spine every time he moved. They ached for release, but Hunk didn't think it was coming.

His back was turned to the door and every noise that came from beyond sent him into a fit of panic that left him gasping for breath. He didn't know how long he'd been bolted down like this before the doubts came back, settling in his mind.

How long had it been?

Surely too long.

Where was Lance?

Not coming.

_Why?_

...

His heart ached for his best friend more than it ever had. He wanted Lance because Lance was his security, Lance always had his back and Lance wouldn't have let this happen.

A part of him was bitter towards Shiro, but he knew that wasn't fair. If anyone was to blame, he'd bet it was Allura for sending Lance and Keith away.

_Lance wouldn't have let this happen._

Every muscle in Hunk's body tensed as he heard footsteps coming down the hall towards his cell. They were lighter than the other ones that had come before, but Hunk had doubts that they brought anything good.

He held his breath as the footsteps stopped in front of his door and a light shined in.

_"Hunk?"_

Hunk's head snapped up, he made a questioning sound behind the muzzle, trying to form Pidge's name

"Lance, he's over here!" Pidge called, her voice echoing through the hall. Hope blossomed in Hunk's chest.

There were rushed footsteps and a hissed, "Be _quiet."_

Hunk gave a sob that sounded vaguely like his friend's name, emotional.

"Yeah, buddy, it's me," Lance said in that soothing tone that Hunk missed so much, "hang tight, we'll get you out in a jiffy."

He heard the sound of a machine whirring and metal grinding against metal before something fell to the floor with a clunk. He heard the door open with a whine and Lance filled his vison in a second.

Lance made quick work of the muzzle, letting it drop to the floor. Lance was careful not to rub over the cuts the muzzle left torn into his face.

"Lance..." Hunk mumbled, looking into Lance's eyes tearfully. Lance patted him on the shoulder and gave him a smile, his own eyes getting a wet film.

"It's okay, buddy, we're here. Pidge, can you cut the chain first?" Lance asked, looking behind him where he knew Pidge was.

He jumped once the thing from before starting whirring right next to him. Lance ran a hand down his arm, "It's okay, it's just Pidge's saw."

The chains snapped and Hunk fell forward into Lance's chest, his muscles screaming with relief and tendrils of pain. He let himself melt into the comforting embrace of Lance while Pidge carefully sawed through the rest of his bindings.

Once the last of the metal strips fell, Lance and Pidge helped him stand as his legs were weak. "We have to hurry, Keith should already be back at the ship."

"What about Shiro?" Hunk asked quietly.

Lance pursed his lips, "Shiro should be planning his apology speech."

Hunk smiled at his friend's protectiveness, warmth curling in his chest, replacing all of the anxiety he had felt.

He knew they would be okay.

**Author's Note:**

>  **I'm taking requests for Bad Things Happen Bingo on my Tumblr:** one-trigger-lullaby.tumblr.com


End file.
